stephen fincher

Former U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, the gospel signing farmer from Frog Jump, is dropping out of the U.S. Senate race and urging incumbent Sen. Bob Corker to reconsider his decision not to seek a third term.

“My campaign has always been about what’s best for Tennessee,” Fincher said in a statement released Friday afternoon. “Tennessee families need a strong conservative voice in the Senate, someone who will stand with President Trump and lead the Republican Party forward.

A poll of likely Tennessee Republican primary voters, commissioned by the Senate Conservatives Fund, found 64 percent want Bob Corker to retire from the U.S. Senate while 24 percent said he should run for reelection with 12 percent undecided, according to Breitbart News.

The poll also found that Blackburn – who has been endorsed by SCF – would be strongly favored to defeat Corker and U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher a hypothetical three-way Republican U.S. Senate The results: 49 percent for Blackburn, 26 percent for Corker and 9 percent for Fincher.

Politico reports that a late January poll had Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen leading Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn 47% to 45% in a head-to-head matchup in the Tennessee Senate race.

The poll conducted by Glen Bolger of Public Opinion Strategies indicates that a generic Republican would be preferred over a Democrat, and that President Donald Trump retains a strong approval rating. The takeaway, Politico says, is that “Blackburn is in for a tough race” even in a heavily Republican state like Tennessee.

Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker has been talking to colleagues about the possibility of reconsidering his announced retirement, according to a CNN report.

The details are sketchy, even within the context of the anonymous rumor mongering typical of Washington political reporting. CNN says there’s disagreement about whether Corker has initiated the talks about his political future, or if the subject just came up when it was raised by colleagues who want him to run again.

(Update: The Tennessean has spoken to a top Corker adviser, who says: “It is true that Senator Corker has been encouraged by people across Tennessee and in the Senate to reconsider his decision, but at this point nothing has changed.”)

Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s U.S. Senate campaign has reserved $1 million worth of ad time on Fox News between April 27 and the primary election on Aug. 2.

Campaign adviser Ward Baker says in a memo that it was key to reserve the premium statewide inventory during the 14-week ad run now because of the crowded field of candidates in the governor’s race and various congressional contests will drive up demand for limited airtime.

Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn leads former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen 50.7 percent to 39.7 percent in a recent poll commissioned by Tennessee Star of prospective voters in hypothetical matchup for the general U.S. Senate election. The poll also found that Bredesen has a lead – 41.5 percent to 38.2 percent – in a match with former Republican Rep. Stephen Fincher as the GOP nominee.

A poll commissioned by Club for Growth PAC, which has endorsed U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, finds her leading former Rep. Stephen Fincher 66 percent to 13 percent among likely GOP primary voters with 21 percent undecided. The group also did a poll matching Blackburn against retiring Sen. Bob Corker and reported her leading the incumbent 63 percent to 25 percent.

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn says she raised $2 million for her U.S. Senate campaign in the fourth quarter of 2017 while her fellow Republican rival, former U.S. Stephen Fincher, says he collected $1.45 million.

A poll commissioned by a pro-Trump super PAC found that Republican Marsha Blackburn is ahead of Democrat Phil Bredesen in a potential 2018 general election for a Tennessee U.S. Senate seat, reports the Hill, while a survey sponsored by a Democrat-supporting organization found Bredesen ahead.

Club for Growth, which is backing U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn for the Republican nomination to a U.S. Senate seat, bashed her primary opponent, former U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, as “the Fincher who taxed Christmas” in this digital ad. It’s produced by CFG Tennessee, a PAC recently set up as a Club affiliate to support Tennessee candidates for federal office.

Text of the ad’s narrator:

The Christmas Tree! The symbol of the Season! The target of the taxman?

Yes, boys and girls, in 2013 President Obama proposed a tax on Christmas trees.